Field Blends Are Special - Trust Me
Block 8, Stone Well Estate Vineyard
Field Blends
“A field blend is a wine made from grapes picked, fermented and aged together from a single block within a vineyard planted to multiple grape varieties.”
Field blends happen all over the world, though they're now rare. In the past, before vignerons worried about varietals or clones, they just planted different grapes in their vineyard as an inexpensive (yet limiting) way to blend wines. All the grapes are harvested at the same time and fermented together—a true field blend doesn't separate by varietals at harvest; the "blend" is whatever nature gives that vintage.
Modern winemakers generally prefer to plant and pick each variety separately, knowing that they don't always ripen evenly. Sometimes a winemaker will ferment multiple grapes together (a practice called co-fermentation), which invokes the spirit of field blends. But most winemakers blend different lots of wine together after the fermentation is finished to better control the process.
History
For centuries, grape varieties grew side-by-side in a vineyard. Old World winemakers planted some for ripeness, some for acidity and others for colour. It was done to ensure an entire year’s harvest wouldn’t be lost if environmental conditions affected one or more of the grape varieties. It was a way to maintain consistent quality long before technological advances made it easier to do so.
At harvest, the interplanted grapes are picked and co-fermented together. The flavour profile of field blends vary depending on the grapes they contain, but they’re prized for a level of balance, harmony and complexity.
For the many winemakers who love to make them, field blends are a distinct and expressive way to showcase a vineyard’s terroir with an eye to traditional winemaking ways before economics and efficiency claim much of the industry.
And Today?
Most blended wines today are made from grapes grown in variety-specific sites. The grapes are harvested and fermented separately, then combined to make a final wine. But not all blends are produced this way.
Where do you find field blends?
Austria, Alsace, the Douro Valley in Portugal have traditionally grown mixed plantings. Often white, but sometimes red. New World plantings are rare, but we are seeing them in pursuit of something special.
Field Blends bring back the Romance in Wine
For me, Field Blends are the anti-corporate vineyards - the antithesis of the big production, low cost way.
Traditionally, in the valley Shiraz ripens before Grenache, followed by Mataro. In some years, we can be picking some shiraz blocks 6-8 weeks before the last of our mataro, but in our Estate Vineyard, ripening is consistently close together, mixed in fact, with all our blocks often picked within 2 weeks sometimes less. Do grape vines adjust there ripening to coincide with each other? We think so. Romantic isn’t it!
Our Field Blend(s)
Block 8, in our Estate Vineyard is Stone Well is a field blend. It is an acre of interplanted Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro that was planted in the last 1940s. These very mature vines are hand-picked without differentiation of grape then co-fermented, barrel aged and bottled. A wonderful expression of our Certified Organic site, unique you could say.
The success of our Red Field Blend has led us to plant a white field blend containing Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Marsanne. Only the Grenache Blanc is currently bearing, but in a few years we will welcome a white field blend, or blanc to the Hayes Family Wines stable. Until then, you can enjoy the Grenache Blanc in all its glory
2021 Estate Field Blend Block 8